…6 years at what is speculated to be 4 million per season. He still has a year left on his current contract which is under a 2 million dollar cap hit.

Wayne Simmonds, aka Superman, was a fan favorite. He suffered under former L.A. Kings coach Terry Murray like every other offensively gifted player did to some extent. At 23 years old, he should not be near his ceiling yet. Hopefully, the money doesn’t go to his head or up his nose. He did have that party reputation…then again, so did Mike Richards and Jeff Carter and where would we have been without those two?

Simmonds new deal expires when he is 31yrs old. I think he’ll be a King again when he’s 29. He’ll be tired of losing in Philly & the Kings will need a veteran gritty player to help us win our 6th cup in as many years.

You know how some observers will describe a player by naming a similar player who is slightly or significantly better or tougher or grittier than the person they are attempting to describe as “so and so light?” As in Dustin Penner is “Todd Bertuzzi light.”

Now skip the “Schenns upside in 5 years is Mike Richards now analysis” even if it that is correct (of course it may prove to be too generous as well). And now, well, chuck political correctness and all that crap right out the friggin window too because Wayne Simmonds is “Mike Richards DARK.”. Bigger stronger meaner nastier but he compares more closely to the Player who Richards is. He embodies all those traits except maybe leadership, but that takes time.

Then again, honestly, what we saw this year of Mike Richards was comparitvely a Stoll/Penner like fall off of production from what he normally contributes to his team offensiverly. We actually won the cup with 3 of our top 9 forwards having career low seasons.

Now the most important part of that last sentence wasn’t about three forwards having career low seasons. It was: WE WON THE CUP. WE WON LORD STANLEYS CUP. WE WON THE FUCKING CUP. And that, my fellow king fanatics, is the beginning, middle and end of that debate if there even was one.
(I think Nick Nickson said it best)

“THE LOS ANGELES KINGS ARE THE 2012 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS. AFTER 45 YEARS THE KINGS CAN FINALLY WEAR THEIR CROWN.”

Mike Richards was off to the best start of his career (11 goals, 20 points in 24 games, beastlike defending his zone, etc) until he got the head injury. His reg. season ended Dec 1. You can’t play three weeks after a head injury and it takes a good 6 mos for the awful effects of post concussion syndrome (PCS) to fully disappear. This was something he told reporters in NJ during the beg. of the Finals, when asked about it, he replied, “I didn’t start feeling like myself again until the end of Feb.” Now that he’ll have skilled wingers on a reg. basis in a better system, he’ll return to form. He Gagne and Carter should be fun to watch and with the team Sutterfied, they’ll be attacking the zone and putting up points. The Kings top 6 will be killer next year (if we have a next year)

As much as DL likes trading with Philly, Simmers will be a King again in 3 years anyway. Not because his deal is going to be a bargain by then, or that Wayne is a really good player, but because DL can’t help himself.

The Flyers got a gritty young player and a high draft pick who still hasn’t proven himself and we got a leader and a fucking “CUP”, let’s see. Ya, I’ll still take the trade.
P.S. the Flyers overpaid for Simmonds on his new contract.
That being said, I hope he scores 40 goals, except against us!

Given all we know about hockey, sometimes it is just the facts of life a GM has to pull the trigger to exchange the young prospects for the proven producer, if they are not injured or other other team chemistry issues. DL was feeling the heat and pressure to advance the team back on track, and to even make the playoffs last season. The dividends are immense from those trades, and those dividends are not done being paid to us, even if those traded guys do better and better. I say, keep always looking and thinking what can make the team better, but be dam certain it will pay off big.

It’s more than a fair contract for what he’s shown. He’s doesn’t move me, but the fans here love him and that’s made his transition easier, i think. And given the Flyers track record when they sign their young forwads (see richards, carter and JVR) it makes him very tradable. The rumor here is that Homer offered a 1st for JayBo (which is overpayment for him, we have no prospects and a thread bare farm system now thanks to mismanagmenet for years) and he was turned down they wanted a player too. I really hope he avoids a trade, every time I see Matt Read’s name in a trade rumor I bristle. Even with Mez healthy, this team is not a contender, they just aren’t balanced and Lavvy’s system sucks. Most of the forwards (not nbamed Courtier , Read and Wellwood) were defensively irresponsible and dont’ know thow to cover their zone, which was evident all year and badly exposed in the playoffs. Small wonder that Homer brought in TM to coach the PHantoms.